Water heater



^ Oct. 12., 1926. 1,602,389

R. J. BEL-ER f. WATER HEATERA Filed August 19'. 1921` e .is

Patented 02s, 12, 192s.

salsas J# .es semestrales'Barrantes@- WATER HnATnn.

application :mea August 19,192.1. serial No. 493,511.

MEY- .invention .is for e Water .heater .fer supplyingy hot water-tor domestic and other uses, and rnelzjttes especially to that type of waterv heaterv in which a tank of water is kept heated, and from which-the hotJ water to be used is drawn.

Ther@ are tu@ types. of water heaters in .common use at this time. @ne type is known .an instantaneous heater, the water being Yheated as-it is .used byburners .disposed beneath coils or pipe, the burners beine .lighted frelrl Pilot lighten@ .Surf plied. with fuel only when the. water .1s be: ving used, an antoniatic valve being provided for controlling the flow of fuel from the low of water. In the other type of heater, a rela-tively large tank is provided, and a heating coil disposed at .one sidey of the tank and has its upper. .end connected throng-h a pipe with the top lot the tank and its` llower end conneeted with the bottom of the tank. small burner ,is located beneath y.the coil, and lthe water is ,slowly heated. .Thewater in the tanik is kept heated by circulating through the coil, and

the .quantity yof .hot water available is limited by the capacity of the tank. The tank is .generally exposed, so that rsome of the heat is lost. Insuch heaters, 4the water must be heated slowly,.bec,ause if the burner heated. with suiicien-t. rapidity, the water would become top hot ,and the burnerwould have to beturn'ed down or out. Considerable. manual manipulationand adjustment is therefore often necessary with heaters of ythis kind, especially in i,donqieStiC instal/,lations where the amount of hot water used varies considerably at .different times.

Accordingto the present invention, I provide a Etankota suitable capacity, Beneath the tank are one or more heating coils which ,are .supplied with water at the bottomof the tank, yand which `deliver heated water into .the tank -ata point above the point where .the water flows into the coils. The

cold water is lsupplied ,to the vtranlf: at va D Clnt near the bottom thereof and prefer.- ably below ,the point vwhere the coils Aditssherseiheeted Water ,inte vthe .tank- .A baur er, .adapted .t0 rapidly .beat the ter, is disposed beneath the coils, a pilot dight is. restiened naar rthe burners- .A thermo# stat located in the lower part of the tank controls the ,ow o;tf 1^1 el to the burners. Hotwater is withdrawn from the top of .the ,tank With this. arrangement, '.tlie'plot ylight is normally the only burner. which is using., fuel. When the temperature `of the water in the tank falls below afpredeten mined' minimum, the; thermostat supplies fuel .tothe main burner and the temperature of the water is rapidly raised, although it is not .contemplated .that the water bel heated to the desired temperature .at the rate at ywhich it is consumed.

The primary object `of my'invention is to provide .a water heater of the type using e .het .Water tank 0r, reservoir in. which the water may. beheated with great rapidity until ,they desired temperature is reached, after .vl-.lich the Water will normally be automatically maintained at the vdesired temperature.` t Furthery .objects are to provide an improvedconstruction arranged to give Vthe .mesteicint crulatien .0f the water n the tank and coils and in which niore vot -thef heat of combustion will be utilized and in `which there will be less f loss from radiation My invention, may be more llly .Gle-

scribed in lcOllI-1ecti-on with the accompany ing drawings, in whichz. l

Figurel 1s a vertical section through a heater embodying my invention.

,Figure 21s a vliewkpartly y.in ,section and .partly in ,elevation at rightf'angles to Figfl ure l. v

Figure `3 is a horizontal V,sectionxon line III-VIII of-Figure 2. t y

Eigure 4; is ya similar ,section on liney IV In the drawings, 5 indicates a tank having a bottomy .6, and "a top .7. .Surroundving the upperpart ofthe tank is .aY metal ring '8, having set screws yor 'bolts .8 around the `.upper edge` thereof, by .means of which l the ring maybe clamped to the'tank. The 'lower edge of the ring'S has a lflange and shoulder at t9. The :tank iis ,provided .near its lower end with an annular -bjead or ring or with projecting lugs., indicatedgat.'10.`

contracted portion of the base are holes or openings.

Disposed between the base and the flange and shoulder at 9 is a sheet metal shell or casing 16, having a flue leadingtherefrom at 17.

lithin. the base 11 and disposed under the tank 5, are one or more, preferably four, heating coils 18. Leading from the bottom of the tank is a vertical pipe 19. The lower end of this pipe is joined to a T, 20. A drain pipe 21, having a faucet 22 thereon leads from one branch of the T, and serves to drain the tank and coils. From the other branches of the T are oppositely extending pipes 23, which are joined to Ts 24. To the opposite branches of the Ts 24 are connected the lower ends of coils 18 (see Figure a). l do not necessarily limit ""7' myself'to this method of connecting all of Uil the coils to a vcentral downwardly extending pipe, as various other ways of connecting the lower ends of the coils to the bottom of the tank could be used. The upper ends of the coils 18 extend up through the bottom 6 of the tank and a considerable distance up into the tank, as indicated by 18B.

A cold water supply pipe is indicated at 25. It preferably opens into the tank at a point between the bottom thereof and the tops 18L of the pipes which extend up wardly from the heating coils.

Projecting into the tank, preferably at the same level as the cold water inlet, is

a thermostat 26, of any suitable design. This thermostat controls a valve 27 in a gas or other suitable fuel pipe 28.

Disposed beneath the coils 18 are burners 29 on pipe 30. At 31 is a mixing valve, supplied through pipe 32, which is connected with the fuel supply pipe 28 through the thermo-valve 27. At 33 is a small burner connected through pipe 34: with the fuel supply pipe 28. The thermovalve does not control the flow of fuel to the small burner, which is arranged to burn continuously and provide a pilot light for the main burners 29. The burners 29 may be of any suitable number and construction, but l prefer to provide a separate burner under each coil 18.

The hot water is withdrawn from the tank by a suitable pipe, such as 35, leading from the top 7 thereof.

In use, the tank is filled with cold water from the pipe 25. The thermostat 26 opens valve 27, and gas or other fuel is supplied to burners 29, and is lighted from pilot light 33. The water in the coils is heated, and it rises through pipes 18a and empties into the tank while other water fiows down the central pipe 19.- The arrows in lFigure 1 indicate vthe direction of low. The

hottest water will of course always rise to the top of the tank, so that the thermostat, being near the bottom and near the cold water inlet is always in the coolest water in the tank. The thermostat will, there-- fore, maintain the Valve 27 open until all the water in the tank will be sufficiently hot, when it-will effect the actuation of valve 27 to close it. During the time the burners 29 are lighted, the hot gases pass up through openings 14s and around the tank between the tank and the shell 16. out the flue 17. Thus a saving of some of the heat is effected.

They can pass After the valve 27 has been closed, the

pilot light 33 will continue to burn, keeping .l the water in the tank in circulation to 'a very slight extent and the heat that is not absorbed passes around the outside of the tank, thereby helping to prevent loss of heat from the tank. Vfhen the water in the tank cools, or hot water is withdrawn and replaced by cold water, the thermostat 26 will open valve 27.

By this arrangement, a relatively large body of water can be rapidly heated and then maintained at the desired heat, and frequent manual regula-tion of the burners is unnecessary. While it isk not contemplated that the burners heat the water to the desired temperature at the same rate it is used, yet it does not take long to heat a tank full after all the hot water has been exhausted. lt is important that the pipes 18a do not extend too far up into the tank, as otherwise partially heated water might be directed into the upper part of the tank where the hottest water has accumulated.

Various changes and modiiications may be made in the construction of the heater as shown and within the contemplation of the appended claim.

lVhat l claim is:

A water heater comprising a base having a contracted upper end portion forming an inwardly directed flange in which are perforations, a tank having its lower end mounted in the contracted upper end of the base and provided with projecting supporting means seated upon the said flange at the inner sides of the perforations, a shell supported on the flange at the outer sides of the perforations and spaced from the tank whereby gases may pass through the perforations of the fiange of the base into the space between the tank and the shell, a heating coil communicating with the tank within the base'and close to the bottom of the tank, and a burner in the base below the heating coil.V j

ln testimony whereof l afx my signature.

ie-@Briar J. entre., 

